


Five Drabbles for Alice and Randel

by TeaRoses



Category: Pumpkin Scissors
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-03-07
Updated: 2010-03-06
Packaged: 2017-10-07 18:58:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 500
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/68174
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TeaRoses/pseuds/TeaRoses
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Five drabbles (exactly one hundred words each) written for the stagesoflove LiveJournal.  The theme was pieces of furniture:  chair, table, desk, couch, and bed.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Waiting

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chair

Randel looks so awkward sitting there in the chair, trying to fit in his arms and legs and look like anyone else. But he can't, and it's not only his height or the scars. Alice can tell he isn't at ease in this world.

Yet he looks so gentle and boyish. She has seen the glazed eyes when he kills, but she has also seen this smile.

People tell her that she is too much of an idealist, and it's probably true. But looking at Randel, sitting there waiting patiently with hope in his eyes, she holds on to dreams.


	2. Malthus

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Table

Alice looks across the table at Randel, watching as he eats, his manners precise if not precisely aristocratic. But more food is disappearing off the plate than is going into his mouth, and she rolls her eyes when she realizes why.

"If you keep on feeding those stray cats, they will only make more cats," she says.

"If you keep on feeding the poor..." Randel trails off.

She stares at him dumbfounded. Is he actually arguing with her? But he is smiling gently again, and touches her hand across the table.

"We'll make this a better place yet. For everyone."


	3. Desk Work

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Desk

Alice puts the same intensity into desk work that she does into anything else, but Randel can tell that she would rather be brandishing her sword or even wielding a shovel. Now and then her hand creeps back to rub her neck, when she thinks Randel isn't looking.

When he moves behind her and begins to massage her shoulders gently, he is surprised when she just sighs and lets him continue. It's a sound of pleasure that he has never heard her make before. They both know better than to do even this, but he knows he likes that sound.


	4. Casualty

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Couch

The hospital waiting room is killing Alice. She keeps pacing the floor while Randel sits helplessly on the couch.

"I'm such a hothead," she mutters. "But I thought it would be me who would be hurt by it."

"Oreld is going to be all right," Randel replies, because he believes it, and because Machs is also listening. "It was battle, and he knew that."

"A commander takes responsibility," says Alice.

Finally Randel guides her back down to the couch, and takes her hand in his.

"You are."

They sit, and he prays for good news. Her hand feels so small.


	5. On Stone

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Bed

Randel knows he should find a bed somewhere rather than sleep on stone. Alice will be furious when she realizes where he stays every night. But for now he would rather be among people like himself, who are not quite certain where they are.

When he thinks of her before he sleeps, it doesn't matter whether he is on a mattress or a sidewalk. She has given him hope, and that is more important than comfort.

And if he sometimes dreams that she is lying near him, rather than in her own doubtless luxurious bed, perhaps that is no sin.


End file.
